If Victor Valley Rescue Mission does it, Veronica Trujillo, of Victorville, most likely has a hand in getting it done.

"It's not just me doing this," Trujillo said. "I rely on all my volunteers. We're a team. We couldn't do this without each other."

Trujillo, the rescue mission's community relations, volunteer and events coordinator, has been nominated as one of the Daily Press' 2013 Most Inspiring Women of the Victor Valley.

For close to four years, Trujillo has been organizing the mission's events to help people in need, from the unemployed to the homeless.

"They've lost hope, or they're really working hard to try to better themselves and their kids and they need help," Trujillo said. "I see people who've made mistakes in their lives, people who've lost their jobs. They come in broken and we always want to leave them with dignity and hope."

Many hands are needed to help with the mission's efforts, so volunteers are vital. They come from all age groups and experience levels, and Trujillo says the community hasn't let her down yet.

"God's really brought in so many different people from so many different backgrounds who probably wouldn't have talked to each other before because of their different lifestyles," Trujillo said.

Two volunteers Trujillo is especially proud of are her daughters: Elizabeth, 13, and Katherine, 10.

"They're able to help make food boxes, they're able to help with the toy giveaway, they file for me, they welcome people," Trujillo said.

Often, her daughters step in and talk to other children who come to the mission with a parent who's looking for assistance. Her girls are able to make those children feel at home in a way no adult could, according to Trujillo.

Trujillo feels it's important to make her volunteers' work rewarding for them.

"I love to find out what people's gifts are — what they're comfortable with and what they enjoy doing," she said.

Some people, Trujillo explained, enjoy encouraging others; those people can work up front, dealing with people face to face. Others are more introverted or task-oriented; they're well-suited to duties such as data entry, sorting food or filing paperwork.

Sometimes she sees her volunteers stretch those boundaries, "growing into" gifts they didn't realize they had.

And Trujillo herself has grown well beyond the administrative skills she was originally hired for, according to Ron Wilson, director of Victor Valley Rescue Mission.

"Her other skills started surfacing and rising up when she was here. She was always wanting to do more," Wilson said. "She's always been concerned with the mission and its growth."

Her skill in dealing with the public led to Trujillo's promotion to community relations coordinator last year.

"She kind of evolved into the community relations position," Wilson said. "She started going to meetings here and there for me and just represented the mission very well, and the community has embraced her."

For Trujillo, helping others is more than a job — it's a calling.

"This is what we do, this is what God's called us to do," Trujillo said. "Whatever we do to the least of these, we do unto him. That's what Jesus has called us to do — to help the less fortunate."

Get complete stories every day with the "exactly as printed" Daily Press E-edition, only $5 per month! Click here to try it free for 7 days. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.